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I agree with all that CMGC. Managing the injuries is part of the job and to say it shouldn’t affect England’s performance is naive. Of course losing that many top players will affect performance. Also interesting that lots of people are happy to link Gloucesters dip in form with number of players out injured.

Of course it's a problem. My point is EJ had plenty of opportunities to get others some game time pre 2018 but he played the core team so often and he didn't take chances to look at players like Mercer (just an example).

I find it naive to point to injuries because all teams have to deal with it. The way some are talking almost suggests that Eng have been playing against other teams that haven't faced the same problems. Look at the Irish - been very consistent even when experiencing fitness issues. They've played lots of rugby without the likes of Sexton - and they don't have the depth of the English game.

Steckers Do a list of the medium - long term injuries to Irish players and it is a pale shadow of the Eng one. Any team can deal with a hgandfull but when it is as long as the Eng one it WILL make a significant difference. Having lots of playwers is irrelevant. You need a XV with lots of experience and cohesiveness. Havin 30 or 300 outside of that group makes no difference. The last two Eng runouts show what happens when the injury issues become manageable i.e less than 10 !!!PS Eng used 48 different players in the 20 odd games 2017 - 2018 on their " losing run" . You won't find another team having to dig that deep !!

I actually only think Eng have had to contend with injuries to Billy V and Manu in terms of truly influential players (and many on here - not me - have consistently said Manu shouldn't be in team anyway).

Just to back up my point about managing the bigger picture - surely Robson should've got 30 mins today. Maybe longer. Instead he stuck with youngs until the 69th min.

He clearly doesn't rate Robson as highly as Wasps and many Glos fans do. I expect that Robson probably won't go to Japan. In which Case allowing Care to focus on club rugby, whilst taking a closer look at Robson makes some sense.

I predict Youngs and Care with Wrigglesworth as back up will be the three. I'd have no argument with that - all are technically superior to Robson, albeit with a lesser threat ball in hand.

I suspect nursing Ford into the game (with Youngs on the field) was more important to EJ than giving Robson a "fair" chance. It's harsh - but this is elite sport.